Okay, I know I missed last Friday. Got wrapped up in some new software and doing some remods for my website work, and some other non-related work, and never even thought about blogging – or was too tired to even think about writing if I did. And then it seems my mind went blank; all the wonderful ideas I had for writing went poof! Took me a bit to get it all back in my head (note to self: write better notes).
Anyway here's the final part of my ABC's.
Orchestrate Peace
At one point, Jesus said "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword" (Mt. 10:34). I think He said that to show that we have some wrong ideas about peace. Being a peacemaker may be blessed but it is not easy. I believe that true peace goes hand in hand with wholeness (which comes up in just a bit).
I chose the action "orchestrate" in regards to peace because often we are woking to bring harmony among many voices. The current situation in Egypt is one in which I believe intercessors are called to orchestrate peace by praying and listening for God's voice among the cacophony of voices that may or may not be working for peace (in fact the prophecies many are referencing in regard to this are not ones that point to peace but a time of struggle and trial before Egypt comes to know God).
Quit Resisting Spirit
How many times do we get the urge to pray for someone and don't? How many times do we feel we must take some action and we don't? I admit that I probably miss more opportunities than I take because I'm scared of doing or saying the wrong thing. The Holy Spirit is our Guide and we keep wanting to hear from God, yet often we ignore that voice when we hear it. We need to give in on our desire to control ALL situations and times and let God be God.
Trust Unceasingly
Kathy and I attended a service where we discussed Psalm 22. It's easy to praise and trust when things are going well. But we decide that when things are not going according to our plans or desires that we need to step up to the plate and tell God how to be God. Don't you think He knows what He is doing and has a much better handle on the big picture? I guess this goes hand in hand with resisting Spirit – just "be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10 NIV). Think about what He has done yesterday and today for you and don't worry about tomorrow; let God handle that. (I'm preaching to myself here more than to anyone else who may read this).
Visualize Wholeness
I don't know about you but I have a hard time visualizing things. I've got a good imagination but sometimes trying to wrap my head around visual concepts is hard. Visualizing wholeness is one of those areas that I think we all have a hard time. Peace and wholeness are concepts that we seem to have a different understanding of than what God really meant. We ask for peace and healing and again we want to explain to God how to do this as if He doesn't know.
The closest I have come to this is my understanding some of what Heaven and the New Earth will be like. I was standing on the balcony at the Missão Daniel Soares Bomfim in Niteroi, Brazil (outside of Rio) and looking at the hillside – the houses, the flowers, the people – and thinking about the beauty of it all (even in the midst of the uglier details due to poverty and being in a crowded area). And the thought came to me about how beautiful this all would be after the New Heaven and Earth were revealed. I could see how everything would be … complete.
What makes your world complete? Not what you think you need or want but what makes your world really complete?
X Your Zealotry
There was a recent Facebook thread started by a friend of mine that talked about how we turn others away because we are too zealous in making sure that everyone acts right, looks right, believes right, etc. and a recent Max Lucado devotion talked about this same subject. We get caught up in how much God has changed us that we forget that we are all still works in progress, and become critics of our brothers and sisters. We are not called to be judges but witnesses and priests – to tell others about God and to work acts of forgiveness and restoration. We could all be a lot more Samaritan and a lot less Pharisee.
Father, remind us of the basics but lead us into higher paths with You. We want to go deeper into Your Love and show it to a world so desperate for it. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Be well,
Steve
I decided to move my writing day to Friday instead of Wednesday so this is a bit later than usual. See last week's post to see the story behind my ABC's. I'm going to cover the first half this week and the last half next week.
Always Be Compassionate.
Great "rule" for life in general but in prayer I believe that it means to pray without judgment. Jesus was led by compassion for the people and I believe that compassion will guide our prayers to be more other-oriented than self-oriented.
Do Everything For God.
We spend too much time praying for what WE want (I know I do anyway) and not really listening or considering what God wants. If our life were truly directed in the way that we say we say it is, then everything we do is done for God – everything we do would be ministry and everything we do would be prayer.
Hope in Jesus.
I'm tempted to just say "no explanation needed" but I think that it does bear saying that without Jesus as our Mediator, Lord, and Savior, we have no hope.
Keep Loving.
Maybe this sounds redundant but I don't think that the point can be emphasized enough – we need to be loving in life and in prayer.
If we keep loving God, we serve our brothers and sisters better. If we keep loving our brothers and sisters, we serve God better.
Minimize Negativity.
I've heard it said that for every positive statements we hear, we hear eleven negative ones. Not sure if that is true, but we do hear a lot of negative things day in and day out. Minimizing negativity does not mean ignoring the bad things of life but we don't need to add to the mix our own negative thoughts and feelings. Often we even pray negatively – Scripture says ask and we hedge our bets by waltzing around in our prayers so much to keep from being wrong that any answer that God could give us would be vague at best. There is nothing wrong with direct, positively and strongly stated prayers – look at the Psalms; all of them, not just 23, 100 and the "nice" ones.
Next week, I'll finish this line of thought. with the rest of the alphabet.
Father, help us to see the basics of life and prayer as You see them. Help us to live as You Son lived, to pray as He prayed, to love as He loved. For it is in His Name, I pray, Amen.
Be well,
Steve
A few days ago, I woke up thinking about the alphabet – the ABC's. For some reason, I was pondering statements made up of words that started with each letter of the alphabet. I had part of it figured out by the time I got out of bed and finally I came up with the following:
Always Be Compassionate.
Do Everything For God.
Hope in Jesus.
Keep Loving
Minimize Negativity
Orchestrate Peace
Quit Resisting Spirit
Trust Unceasingly
Visualize Wholeness
X Your Zealotry
Now I know this is nothing earth shattering but I'm going to spend the next couple of posts going over what I think this mean for prayer and for life in general. If you can come up with something different (or better), I'd love to hear about it! I'll keep playing with this and maybe update it later. (And before you complain, at least two different dictionaries said that X was a word – meaning to cross our or stop; I don't make this up but I do use it to my advantage).
Come back and share with me your thoughts on this.
Be well,
Steve
